If there’s a 350-hour private pilot out there who has a more diverse logbook than I do, my hat’s off to him or her. I have everything from Cessna 152s to a DC-3 to the mighty F-16D in my logbook and my certificate reads ASEL, AMEL, and ASES, among other things. I’ve flown for everything from lunch to competition aerobatics.

The key for me is experiencing the broadest possible swath of what aviation offers.

Coming up on three years ago, I got a ride with Mark Grant in a Schweizer SGM 2-37 motor glider. The aircraft is one of three operated by the Tuskegee Airmen Glider Club, headquartered at Detroit City Airport. It’s a beautiful yellow longwing bird and the ride was a lot of fun.

I also met John Harte that weekend, who was flying one of the other club motor gliders and I got good footage of him in a gaggle climb. John and I have since begun to share an aerobatic instructor and we both fly the Acro Camp Pitts at Berz Aviation at Ray Community Airport.

Fast forward to this spring, when John offered me a chance to go up in one of the aircraft for some giggles. I climbed in and was surprised to find myself doing most of the flying. It turns out that the whole thing was part of an evil plot on John’s part to addict me to flying longwing aircraft. [Read more...]